Date:	Wednesday 15 February 1950
Time:	05:30
Type:	Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Owner/operator:	343rd BSqn /98th BGp USAF
Registration:	42-65355
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 15
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	US Highway 117, 3 miles SW of Great Falls AFB, Montana -   United States of America
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Fairchild AFB, Spokane, WA (KSA/KSKA)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Martin-Omaha B-29-30-MO Superfortress 42-65355: Built under licence by Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska. Delivered to the USAAF 19 February 1945. Assigned to 343rd Bomb Squadron, 98th Bomb Group, Fairchild AFB, Spokene, Washington.

Written off (destroyed) when crashed 15 February 1950 four miles east of Great Falls AFB, Montana, when conducting a long range search and rescue operation from Fairchild AFB, searching to the crew of a Convair B-36 which had crashed into the North-eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington State, USA (but the search area was extended to cover the coast of British Columbia, Canada and up to Alaska). According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Corvallis Gazette-Times" Corvallis, Oregon Wednesday, February 15, 1950 Page 1 see link #4):

"SPOKANE, Feb. 15 (UPI)

Eight men killed in the crash of a B-29 bomber today near Great Falls, Montana, were Identified by the Spokane air force base. The air force did not list the men as dead, but "officially missing." They were:

Major Clyde Butts, aircraft commander, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Capt. Lester V. Johnson, Jr., co pilot, Cove, Oregon.
Capt. Johnathan M. Herbold, Co-pilot Anoka, Minnesota.
1st Lt. Herbert S. Findley, navigator, Mossytuck, Washington,
1st Lt. John S. Bomberg, bomb aimer'
S/Sgt. Robert E. Fisher, flight engineer, Rousevllle, Ohio.
Corporal. James V, Fulton, radio operator, Eldorado, Arkansas.
S/Sgt. James Di Ploro, radio operator, Spokane.

The search plane crash occurred about 5:30 a.m. (PST) near Great Falls, Montana. The B-29 from the Spokane, Wash., air base, taking off to resume the search for the B-36, plunged to the prairie and burned three miles southwest of the Great Falls base. Seven other crewmen escaped.

The big four-engine plane, plummeted to the prairie about three miles southwest of the local base from a low altitude, It burned shortly after it hit one side of U.S. highway 117, and careened over the road, the air force information officer said. These men survived:

Lt, Frederick N. Wlllard
S/Sgt. Victor Jacquot,
Sgt. Clarence R. Abernathy
M/Sgt. Earl E. Everet
S/Sgt. Troy E. Evans
S/Sgt. Charles J. Wilson, and
Cpl. Raymond D. Brandel

The search plane, one of many engaged In the two-nation hunt, had flown over the Queen Charlotte sound area yesterday,"

Wreckage Salvaged May 15, 1950 and struck off charge for reclamation as scrap and components. The 17 crew of the B-36 that B-29 42-65355 were searching for were later recovered alive off the coast of British Columbia, Canada.

1. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_3a.html
2. http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/1950s/1950Feb.htm
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34329206
4. "Corvallis Gazette-Times" Corvallis, Oregon Wednesday, February 15, 1950
5. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/96997448/
6. "Salt Lake Tribune" Thursday, February 16, 1950
7. https://newspaperarchive.com/salt-lake-tribune-feb-16-1950-p-1/
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/92579909
9. "The Independent Record" Helena, Montana Wednesday, February 15, 1950
X. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/15393411/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
26-Jun-2017 00:23	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
06-Apr-2020 14:41	Reno Raines	Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Operator]